Simple Gift Guide 2019
If you hope to make purchases this year that are consumable, experiential, or just a little different, I have put together the House Peace 2019 Simple Gift Guide!
Legacy Box : My parents have lots of VHS tapes, photos, and even reels of home movies from the 70’s and 80’s… and they haven’t known what to do with them. My siblings and I bought a small box from Legacy Box for our mom for Mothers’ Day for her to fill up with her movies and send off to have them digitized. She ended up upgrading her box because she was so thrilled to get the process started. And we siblings benefit, too — we ordered extra thumb drives so we could have copies of what was preserved. (Be sure to google a coupon code!)
Mouse Book Club : I heard about these tiny little books of classics while reading Digital Minimalism and promptly ordered a set of books for myself. The idea is that these small books can give your hands and mind something to do instead of scrolling through the infinity pools of social media. I bought a pre-made set, but you can get a subscription for quarterly deliveries of three books. This is a clever gift for someone who wants to be intentional with their free time!
One of several Mouse Books that I recently purchased. I had never read much of Poe’s works and I am really enjoying getting to know his stories!
Story Worth : A perfect last minute digital gift for someone with lots of stories to tell! With a subscription, the recipient gets a weekly writing prompt via email. Questions are things like, “What was your first boss like?” or “What stories have you been told about yourself as a baby?” My husband and I have given Story Worth subscriptions to three loved ones and it has been a JOY to read their responses every week. At the end of the year, you get the stories bound into a book to keep and pass down to your family. (We ordered extra copies of the books so we can give them to extended family members.)
Get to Work Book : This is my personal favorite planner. I have never been brand-loyal to a planner until I tried this one out in 2019. I loved it so much that I knew I would use it again for 2020. I have dutifully been filling out my January and February obligations already. I recommend watching this video to see how the planner works in real life. Thank you to Elise Blaha Cripe, the creator of the Get to Work Book for sending me the 2020 planner. (PS. This is my friend Erin Moon’s planner of choice too!)
Backup Bootcamp : This is an online course to teach you how to organize your digital photos, no matter how daunting the task may seem. Miss Freddy has bite-sized videos (usually just a couple of minutes long), links, a master checklist, and the skills to get your photos backed up in the cloud and on a hard drive, no longer spread around old phones, various cloud services, random laptops. She answers so many questions I have had… questions about cloud security, or how iCloud is not a true back up. If you’re still not sure this is for you, listen to Laura Tremaine’s podcast interview with Miss Freddy, which is what prompted me to personally buy this course. Again, this is an awesome last minute gift because it’s digital! No shipping time!
The gift of Home Organization by House Peace : Whether your loved one (or yourself!) is a do-it-yourselfer, or needs a full-scope organizing job, we have practical options to REDUCE STRESS in the home. We offer personalized digital gift certificates (meaning printable!) you can offer to your mom, employee, college student, or busy friends. For the DIYer:
We offer a one-hour online consult and follow up to-do list ($75) to get you started.
We have a one-hour walk-through of your Birmingham, AL, area home to assess what’s working and what’s not and a subsequent to-do list ($125).
We also offer gorgeous organizing bins, turntables, canned good risers, and other organizing supplies for sale. Local pick up only, as we are not (yet) shipping. Email me to inquire about availability.
For the non-DIYer:
Purchase one hour Power Hour of hands-on organizing help in your home ($125).
If you need more than an hour of help, we offer three hour jobs ($300) that can make a huge improvement in any space. Additional labor and products can be purchased as well. You can contact us to get a more detailed estimate of what your space needs to get it ship-shape.
Finally, a few books that I have loved in 2019 (each book — and others — are on our Amazon idea list):
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
Homebody by Joanna Gaines
—Tara
PS. Don’t forget local memberships to places like the zoo, science center, or even a movie theater. Got generous parents or in-laws? How about summer camp gift certificate, or a donation to a college fund?!
{These products are items that I have either purchased or consumed personally. I want to make sure my recommendations are solid! Some, not all, of these links are affiliate links.}
